The Galveston Island CVB offers professional assistance in every area of meeting and convention activity including hotel request for proposals (RFP), planning, promotion, registration and spousal programs.

The flamboyant octagonal Garten Verein (Garden Club) was the center of 19th-century refined social life in Galveston. Lit at night like a fairy lantern, dancing couples would swirl within as German waitresses served beer steins and sandwiches.

Built by Galveston's prosperous German community — but open to anyone who could afford the modest membership — the whimsically designed Victorian pavilion flew the flags of all nations, and sported a bowling green, exotically landscaped park, croquet grounds, an ornate fountain, and even a genteel zoo.

Galveston businessman Stanley Kempner bought the site in 1923 and donated it to the city as a public park dedicated to his parents.

In 1998, the Kempner Fund provided a $1 million restoration grant for the fanciful pavilion.